He would deposit the necessary funds.

The title company strokes your company a check for 15k and you head to the bank and make a deposit.

I don't think that this clause is necessarily a deal-breaker (and I could be totally wrong), but I'm taking on a hefty amount of risk in the case where I assign the contract to another investor without my own non-refundable earnest money deposit. 

Winter is always the hardest time to rent quality higher rent apts and homes.Good tenants with clean records and good debt to income ratios are already in decent places to live hunkered down for the cold winter.The place will probably sit empty till May unless you offer free rent and/or reduced deposits to entice good tenants into leaving their current places and moving to yours in the middle of winter.

Most Professional Property Managers do everything; collect rent, schedule maintenance, pay taxes, pay mortgages & HOA dues, process security deposit claims, marketing , leasing , on call 24/7, handle landlord-tenant conflict.

Might be a nuance to address about security deposits you'd have to address. 

Cash is King, so go with the property that produces bigger deposits into your account.

Anyone telling you not to pay is telling you to violate your lease and to get evicted / lose your security deposit.3.

I begin to fill it out and in the process there is a section where it state Earnest Money Deposit!  

I could just let them stay this way, but I am afraid once they move out, their 1 month rent worth of deposit will not cover the cost to get the house back to rent-able condition.